SPOTLIGHT ON VINTAGE: VINTAGE COLLECTIONS – WHAT DO YOU COLLECT?

[Linn]

Aloha, and welcome to the first “episode” of “SPOTLIGHT ON VINTAGE.” I’m your “host”, VFG Trade Member, Linn Alber. SPOTLIGHT ON VINTAGE will focus each time on a particular aspect of vintage or vintage collecting. Starting today and for the next two weeks we will be talking about our personal vintage collections. Please tell us where you are from; a little bit about yourself, and what prompted you to start your vintage collection.

All VFG Members and Registered Guests are encouraged to participate! You may show up to four items. Please remember to follow the Forum rules – no links to pieces for sale from Registered Guests.

For those of you who don’t know me, I am a retired interior designer and a Collector! I grew up on the East Coast, and have lived in Hawaii for many years. I became interested in vintage and antique items a few years after college. I collect/collected many things – cups and saucers, roosters, furniture and accessories, Oriental rugs; vintage clothing and accessories – and more! However, I am mostly known at the VFG for Vintage Costume Jewelry. Initially I bought vintage jewelry to wear. I started collecting Vintage Costume Jewelry after a friend showed me a few of her grandmother’s 1940s designer pieces. I was hooked – and that was the beginning of “Linn’s Collection!”

I have many favorite pieces – here are just a few:

1. Large Floral Unsigned Brooch C. 1930s (4" x 3")

2. “Faux” Emerald Art Deco Ring C1930s

3. Trifari Pastel Fruit Salad Brooch C1937

4. Coro Quivering Camellia Bracelet – C. 1938

Please share WHAT YOU COLLECT!

 

[denisebrain]

Thank you for starting this Linn!! It looks like you are especially fond of 1930s jewelry—gorgeous pieces.

I have several vintage collections, including 1960s half slips with wild prints, and nearly every pair of vintage shoes in US size 9 that I have ever found. But my favorite collection is my vintage fashion with horns. I am a French horn player, and so it was only natural to collect these! (I hope it's not cheating to make my four photos be collages—I just have lots of horn vintage fashion!)

 

[MyVintageCocktail]

My personal vintage passions are jewelry, handbags, and coats. My family had always collected antique and vintage furniture, depression glass, and porcelain ware. So I grew up with an appreciation of those things. My sister got me started with "wearable vintage" when she took me to a newly opened vintage shop in Rochester, NY, more than 30 years ago. I bought one or two pieces of vintage jewelry and a gorgeous 1950s' cashmere coat (which I still own). I was hooked.

Most of my best handbags are vintage, and all of my dress coats are vintage. I don't own a contemporary dress coat! There's nothing like a 1940s' or 50s' clutch or swing coat, or a 1950s/60s' big-button coat to get my blood racing. In jewelry, I collect all sorts and brand/designer names, but am partial to Les Bernard designs.

I'll try to post a few photos of my favorites.

 

[Linn]

I suppose I am drawn to 1930s pieces but I like/collect pieces from the '20's and '40's, too. Maggie, although I LOVE shoes, I don't have any vintage shoes. I do have a large collection of shoe ornaments that I place under and around my tree. I've been collecting them long enough that some of them are vintage. I love your horns, Maggie!

The only vintage coat I own (anymore) is one I bought for myself in the late '90s. I have a number of vintage jackets - but at present I am not wearing anything but very casual lightweight summer clothes! Anne, I have LOTS of vintage handbags. We'll do a segment on handbags soon!

 

[claireshaeffer]

Linn, what a wonderful idea!

We have several collections; some are really just accumulations while others are more organized.

My turtle collection is large and ranges from from very small turtles to large stone ones. Sadly, I didn't keep good records of where I got many of them and what they are made of--there is a lesson here.

I started collecting vintage to wear and write about the construction of the garments. It has gotten out of hand and includes more than 2000 pieces now. There's a sizeable group of haute couture pieces and more expensive ready-to-wear. When I wrote Sewing for the Apparel Industry, I added some inexpensive pieces; and then there are several groups of garments to compare the construction at various price points. In more recent years, I've used my collection to illustrate my books because museum photos have become so expensive. Then there are the sewing and fashion books. Several VFG members have helped me add to both. We're now trying to find a school that would like a nice collection with a focus on the post WWII period.

I have a small collection of handkerchiefs to illustrate various decorative techniques; and of course to use.

Charlie's collections are quite different. His animals are from various countries; most are wood, and I've marked each with the country of origin. He also collects maps of CA as an island. Some are colored while others are black and white. It is interesting to see how the geography of the US "changed" as the cartographers learned more about the country.

 

[Linn]

Claire,

That's so interesting! It would be great if you could share a few photos with us - favorite clothing and turtles! Like, Anne's family, my childhood home was filled with antiques. I have some pieces that were my mother's. (And other family member's before that.) I also have some pieces that my mother acquired at auctions while I was growing up.

 

[Blue Wren Vintage]

Oh gosh this is fun to see what others collect!

I collect clothes

But more specifically I love pretty much anything with butterflies on it, particularly the Seguy type prints.. swoon!
I also collect panel novelty print circle skirts. They don't even have to be skirts, I collect the fabric with uncut panels too. There is one skirt that has eluded me for 3 years, it's called "Maypole Kitties".. I am still looking for it.
I used to collect Suzy Perette 50s dresses but I have sold off a big portion of my collection now, I have only kept a few (by a few I mean about 50).

My most favourite item in my collection is none of those things, it's this Sophie Gimbel dress. I just love it.

 

[denisebrain]

Uh, we have to see this Sophie Gimbel dress Victoria! And 50 Suzy Perettes?

The Maypole Kitties are hard to come by for sure! I've never seen one in person.

 

[Blue Wren Vintage]

Uh, we have to see this Sophie Gimbel dress Victoria! And 50 Suzy Perettes?

The Maypole Kitties are hard to come by for sure! I've never seen one in person.

Just uploaded the images of the Sophie Gimbel, the colour photo is mine
(and I know, I have a Suzy problem.. haha!)

 

[denisebrain]

Ah! Do you wear it?

 

[Blue Wren Vintage]

Ah! Do you wear it?

No, sadly she's not my size. So I just love her and love her and love her . She is packed up in an archive box, but twice a year I open it, check for any insects, damage or repairs needed and then repack her. I look forward to that day because she is so beautiful. It's nerdy I know, but I can't help it.

 

[poppysvintageclothing]

Fabulous dress, Victoria.

Beautiful jewels, Linn.

Your collection is so perfect for you Maggie.

I have collections of vintage purses and coats and jewelry and scarves and shoes and hats and dresses and gloves...
and prints and antique glass and lamps, etc.

I think you get the picture. I have to head out today...will get around to posting some photos in the next couple of days.

 

[Vintagiality]

I used to collect Suzy Perette 50s dresses but I have sold off a big portion of my collection now, I have only kept a few (by a few I mean about 50).

I want to live in your closet

 

[claireshaeffer]

Victoria, the Sophie Gimbel dress is fabulous. As you probably know, the sections were beaded for the dress' design; then they were assembled. I would love to examine your dress.

 

[claireshaeffer]

Linn, I'll work on locating some photos. I have lots of favorites and even a couple of storage photos.

 

[claireshaeffer]

This is a Dior from 1971. Here are the seller's orig. photos which I try to save. Sadly, I frequently forget before they are deleted.
The slip is interesting; it has two layers of chiffon: one blk, one flesh. I did a similar pattern for Vogue.
I can still wear the dress but the collar has to be pressed before hand. Well I could wear the dress before the pandemic; obviously no recent fancy dress evenings.

 

[Racked Vintage]

I have a couple of different collections. A large clothing one with Bonwit Teller labels - my favorite - but I'm not hauling all that out. I have lots of different eyeglasses from lorgnettes to cateyes and some older catalogs and magazines. But as of late, I have been into lucite purses. I save up for them so I can't buy as many as I would like. And I wait for specific ones I am on the hunt for. My favorite are the Ilene labels because of her patterns. I luckily have this pale blue one with the dragonflies on it - I have never seen it anywhere else. I also have the little white bees one. It also comes in butterscotch/amber swirl. Recently I have been looking for pinks because they are hard to come by. Here's my little collection I have so far.

This two are my favorites - that pink glitter one was deadstock and so VERY rare and here is a photo of the Ilene label:

About 8 years ago I started going cuckoo for original Pyrex. I had gobs of them - nearly every pattern - but have since sold many of them off over the last couple of years. However, I wouldn't let go of my pinks or turquoises. My pinks live in the living room on a display shelf but I didn't have a photo handy and its much too cluttered to share one here. I have just as many pinks as I do turquoises so you can imagine I don't have much more room for any more Pyrex. However, my turquoises and aquas get viewed every day because they live in the my turquoise vintage kitchen. They go well with the couple of George Briard pieces I have.

*these photos do not include any of my "collections" of signed silent movie star photos, jewelry, vanity perfume bottles, mid-century-modern furniture and lamps or any of the other shit in my house. Sometimes I click my heels three times and say "I'm not a hoarder! I'm not a hoarder! I'm not a hoarder!"

 

[Linn]

Janice -

Thank you for sharing two of your collections. Your Lucite purses are fabulous! I am pretty sure that many of us who "collect" have more than enough of each of the things we "collect" - but unless we are struck with the urge to "declutter" or have to move, our collections either grow or stay stored or out on display. I have "stuff" all over my house - it gives it "character!"

Claire, your Dior dress is gorgeous. Sadly, no formal events this year!

 

[Midge]

So many great collections.

Victoria, that Sophie Gimbel dress is spectacular - I wouldn't let it go either! Claire, love your Dior dress as well - so clever.

What do I collect? I guess I was born with a gene for that, I started with postcards as a kid, then coins, stamps... I've given up on those, just kept one stamp album with my most "exotic" treasures, as I swapped stamps with someone in Russia for a while and got tons of USSR stamps commemorating space missions and the like.
I have a small collection of vintage powder compacts, which came about after my mom started collecting them as well. She started with vintage costume jewelry after inheriting some 1930s dress clips from a relative, and the compacts turned up in a lot of places too where we were hunting for costume jewelry. She still collects the jewelry, but mostly to wear as well. I have a small collection of mostly vintage brooches to wear on jackets and dresses. Mostly rhinestones, and I like fun stuff, like fruit, fish or other funny animals.
My closet overflows with vintage clothes - these days though I tend to buy things that I can wear, preferably every day. I love 1940s suit jackets (they are simply indistructible, will survive two weeks in a suitcase, and their shape is so flattering!) , 50s-60s cotton blouses with interesting prints, vintage silk scarves, 70s polyester dresses with interesting prints, vintage cashmere sweaters (I have a few 60s Ballantynes that are heavenly!) and printed Darlene sweaters/cardigans. But again, I will go for anything that looks good on me, preferably in bright colors.

My one big collection that can't be overlooked if you visit me though is my Barbie and other fashion dolls! I have somewhere between 300 and 400 dolls, set up in a few different display cases around my apartment. I got my first Barbie doll as a child, and basically, I haven't stopped playing with dolls since then . As a teen, I didn't want to give my dolls away, so I'd save up my pocket money, and get my dad to take me to the big Toys'r'Us store twice a year so I could spend it all on some more dolls. I then dressed them up and displayed them on my bookshelf. On my first trip to the US, I bought lots of dolls we couldn't get here and I got hold of my first Barbie Bazaar collectors magazine. After that, I went full steam ahead, ordering dolls by phone from dealers in the US, joining a doll collectors club here for a while, customising dolls and so on. The club has gone since, and I am not buying a lot anymore, I have to keep it manageable (either they all fit into my cases or I have to take some out of the collection) but I still enjoy them and delight in putting up display scenes with lots of details. I have mostly Barbie dolls, but also Sindy and many others of the same size, plus some of the larger Gene and Tyler dolls. I love having different dolls together in my displays - basically they come in all shapes and colors, and blondes are definitely not in the majority. I have always loved diversity in my dolls!

Here's a few photos of my collection - a lot of dolls are redressed, and there are of course also vintage outfits involved, and some vintage dolls!

And as I work in the travel industry, I recently also created a "travel agency" after I finally got my hands on the 1980s Barbie travel agency set:

 

[Linn]

Karin -

Thank you for showing your dolls! It's always a delight to see the vignettes you've created! It's obvious that you have a lot of fun with your dolls!!!

It seems many of us who collect and sell vintage fashion have multiple collections. I know I do!